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Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

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Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#141

Post by Mz »

throw832649 wrote: post #10

Throwaway for maximum honesty: I am pretty sure I spend at least 75% of my time "at work" not working. HN, Reddit, messing around with side projects or learning a new language or framework. This has been the case for my entire working life. I seem to get as much done as other people (sometimes better) so part of me wonders if I'm not as unusual as I feel. Part of me wonders if I should get evaluated for ADHD, since I…

In "Office Space*, the guy says he spends all his time appeasing his many bosses and only gets 10 minutes of real work done in a week. At my corporate job, I spent at least two hours a day doing necessary tasks that didn't really count towards production, but would cause problems if not taken care of. I also routinely cleaned up messes left by the people being actively rewarded by management for their speed who achieved that by doing sloppy work.

I do freelance work these days. My corporate experience helps me not stress overly much about how little actual work seems to happen. There are always a bunch of tasks necessary to getting other things done that "don't count" as work.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#142

Post by naspinski »

9erdelta wrote: post #9

Some days almost the entire day. I'll read, watch videos, do some tutorials. But its offset because usually when I do this it's because I'm hung up on something and it just isn't going to get solved unless the ole brain has time to do its subconscious thing.

I figure out so many problems while lifting weights! With the added bonus that now I can now bench, deadlift, and squat well over 300 lbs.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#143

Post by mars4rp »

throw832649 wrote: post #10

Throwaway for maximum honesty: I am pretty sure I spend at least 75% of my time "at work" not working. HN, Reddit, messing around with side projects or learning a new language or framework. This has been the case for my entire working life. I seem to get as much done as other people (sometimes better) so part of me wonders if I'm not as unusual as I feel. Part of me wonders if I should get evaluated for ADHD, since I…

does anybody have experience with neurofeedback? I've heard it works very well for ADHD, but it is a bit pricey for me and insurance doesn't cover it.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#144

Post by tasuki »

superasn wrote: post #137
0wl3x wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry is this is rude but how do you make a living only working 3 hours a day? Are you products already established?

No it isn't rude at all. Yes, some sites are already established but I also launch at least one new site every month to add to my income. 3 hours is a lot of work if done without distraction. I think the key is to make your work more mechanical and less creative . I have a system that I have perfected over the years which helps me do this[1]. It's like a stupid step by step list where each item links to a document wh…

That's great - mind sharing the other tabs as well? :)

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#145

Post by psyc »

decasia wrote: post #17

Arguably, time spent reading HN is a legitimate part of becoming/remaining a good developer. Certainly, spending time socializing with coworkers is a required part of work, many places. Spending some amount of time unwinding at the office is arguably required for mental health and therefore a functional component of remaining a worker -- does that count as working? "Working" is an ambiguous category, it seems to me.…

Arguably, time spent reading HN is a legitimate part of becoming/remaining a good developer.

Almost spit out my Coca-Cola brand carbonated soft drink. Thanks for the laugh!

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#146

Post by jackgolding »

Cyph0n wrote: post #134
jackgolding wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was on ADHD meds from the age of 10 to 18. They helped but they had really nasty side effects (used to take 2-5 hours of lying in bed to get to sleep, everything seems super dull and its very hard to break the intense concentration which for the most part is focused on unproductive things like organising old photos instead of cleaning your room.) For a phase of my life after I stopped taking meds, I got quite depre…

Thank you for the informative reply! Yes, my next course of action is to start an organized exercise regimen and try to fit in a bit of meditation every day. I'll work on that a for a few months and see what happens.

Best of luck, I recommend recording your progress which will help with accountability and makes it more interesting

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#147

Post by shouldbworking »

workthrowaway19 wrote: post #34

Probably 25% on the average day. Occasionally 0%. There are entire days that I'll spend working on nothing but side projects, but our company is getting big so no one notices or cares. Sometimes I work from home just so I don't have to do anything other than be around for a couple meetings. The bigger we get the more lawyers and compliance people we ad, and the less noticeable it is that I'm not doing shit.

I find this brutal honestly hilarious

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#148

Post by J-dawg »

coroxout wrote: post #124
J-dawg wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"I'd rather cut my toenails with a rusty butter knife than write the paper." (Okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration.) This totally describes me. The line I quoted resonates because sometimes the idea of a boring task is actually frightening to me, in the way you described. Like I get a really sick feeling about it and will do almost anything to avoid it. On the other hand I feel like I have so much going on in…

It's true that adult ADHD (and non-hyperactive ADHD, and ADHD in women) is under-recognised in the UK. However, NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) has published guidelines about diagnosis and the short version iirc is that you're well within your rights to point out that your GP is not a specialist in this area and ask to be referred. The bad news is there may not be anywhere locally to refer you t…

Thanks very much for your comment. I hope you go and do it soon. I'd love to hear about your experiences when you do.

Re: Ask HN: How much of your time at work do you spend not working?

#149

Post by veddox »

antognini wrote: post #131
veddox wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give a reference for that number? Sounds intriguing...

This article also references about four hours as the limit that a creative professional can work every day: http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/darwin-was-a-slacker-and-y...

A fascinating article, thank you for sharing!
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